


Fresh Start

by Lynds



Category: Legion (TV), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Charles and Gabby both died in the attack, David Haller needs a hug, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Erik adopts David, Erik is a Sweetheart, Gen, Hallucinations, Identity Issues, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Intrusive Thoughts, Mental Health Issues, Parent Death, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Erik, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Hatred, Use of perjorative words relating to mental illness, auditory hallucinations, ie David is not nice to himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:20:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21732124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lynds/pseuds/Lynds
Summary: David has been stuck in an institution ever since the terror attack that killed his parents, mistreated and kept under sedation because of the trauma that splintered his personality.But now his legal guardian has found out where he is. Erik Lehnsherr had no idea his old friend Charles had been killed. But now he does know, he's going to make up for everything David has suffered by being there for him and loving him, and all his headmates, unconditionally.
Relationships: David Haller & Erik Lehnsherr
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Fresh Start

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sebastian2017](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebastian2017/gifts).



> I've never seen Legion, or read the comics, mostly because I identify so much with Movie!Charles and I'm aware that Comics!Charles is literally the shittiest parent ever (also yes, I know Movie!Charles is an arrogant know-it-all with a boat load of privilege, an addictive personality and an abusive childhood - why do you think I identify with him so much?)
> 
> However, I do have a form of DID and what I know about David I love, (seriously, why won't the world just let him be loved and happy?!?) so I had to write Erik adopting him. He'd be perfect for him ;_; 
> 
> This is for Seb, who also needs an Erik to adopt him and hug him all the time.

David stared out into the woods as Logan drove. He bit the cuticles around his fingers ragged and tried not to answer Jack, tried not to listen, because if he showed any signs of being… anything, maybe this guy wouldn’t want him.

“Davey, c’mon… it won’t hurt! Just open the door and jump, man, we’ve seen it in movies like a million times!”

“That’s movies,” he hissed, and bit his tongue. Don’t look weird, don’t look weird.

“Jack’s right,” said Cyndi, leaning her head over his other shoulder. “We can look after ourselves, you know we can. Just let me take over for a bit. I got us out of that place two years ago.”

“You started a _fire,_ Cyndi,” he said, shaking her off. 

Logan glanced at him in the rearview and David gave him a quick smile.

“You gotta do it _now,_ Davey, let me out, you know I’m tougher than you, I don’t get hurt.”

“Or… you could let Karami. You know he’s got, like, special powers or something.”

David shook his head. They were lying, he told himself. They did that on purpose, that’s what all the doctors always said. “You’re not real,” he chanted under his breath. “You’re not real not real not real.”

The car came to a stop. David looked up, startled. He hadn’t realised he’d been rocking back and forth - shit, that was the sign of a crazy person, right? He should stop that, he should look normal, he was normal. He could be. Right?

“Hey, kid,” Logan said, and lit a cigar. “You gettin’ out or what?”

“Huh?”

Logan gestured out the window. There, hidden under ancient pines, stood a little log cabin. It looked like either an idyllic rural getaway, or somewhere a psycho would live.

Oh yeah, David remembered. He was the psycho, wasn’t he?

Logan opened his door and stepped out, stretching his neck with a series of sickening cracks. David scrambled to follow. It was cold out here, and he wrapped his arms across his chest to ward off the cold, nothing more.

A man with brown skin and silver-white hair pushed the door open and stepped out, almost warily. He was carrying a little girl propped on his hip, and a tiny woman followed, a mane of brown curls shining copper in the sun. David hunched his shoulders.

“Mr and Mrs Lehnsherr?” Logan called, stepping forward with his hand extended. 

The white-haired man came down the steps to meet him. “I’m Erik Lehnsherr. You must be Mr Howlett?”

“Logan, please. And this is David.”

David regretted pushing Cyndi and Jack away. Jack could be charming. Cyndi could be cute. David was just… a bit useless, really. He just wanted to be small, to hide, never be seen. Let him never be seen.

“David,” said Mr Lehnsherr, looking at him with a terrifying intensity. “You look… so much like your father.”

David didn’t think he could hunch any more, but he tried. Mr Lehnsherr cleared his throat. “I’m so sorry we didn’t find out sooner. Nobody let us know, and we… please believe me, we would have been there the moment you needed us, and not…” He glanced back at his wife, who was walking towards the two of them, and trailed off, hopelessly. David knew how he felt.

Mrs Lehnsherr smiled at David and held out her hand, hovering it just above his elbow, not touching. He was glad she didn’t touch him without asking. “Why don’t you come inside, David,” she said softly. “You must be exhausted. Are you hungry?”

He bit his lip, glanced between Logan and the Lehnsherr. What should he say? “Tell them yes,” said Cyndi, rolling her eyes and flopping down dramatically on the softest armchair. “Duh. That’s what people want to hear.”

David nodded. Too vigorously, for too long. “Y-yes. Uh, please. Sorry.”

Mrs Lehnsherr smiled again and beckoned him inside. “What about you, Logan?” she asked.

“Oh, nah, I’m—”

“Don’t refuse the challah, it’s fresh,” Mr Lehnsherr smiled, his eyes twinkling. “And Magda always over-caters, anyway.”

Mrs Lehnsherr smacked him with the back of her hand, but she was smiling. 

The inside of the cabin was warm, and smelled of pine resin and warm bread. David felt his mouth watering and was grateful he had said he was hungry. “See? Told ya,” said Cyndi.

“Shut up,” David muttered.

The little girl wriggled down from her dad’s grasp and stopped in front of him while the adults arranged themselves at socially acceptable distances apart from each other in the kitchen. Mr Lehnsherr made coffee, Mrs Lehnsherr cut bread, and they all spoke of small things, unimportant things. Things designed to set each other at ease.

“What happened to your skin?” the little girl asked.

“Anya,” said Mr Lehnsherr, frowning.

“It’s OK,” said David, rubbing the shiny skin on his cheek. “I got burnt,” he said to Nina. “There was... a bomb. A few years ago - I was a bit older than you.”

The adults glanced at each other, and David bit his lip, wondering if he’d said too much, if he’d overstepped, if small children weren’t supposed to hear words like bomb and burnt. Would they kick him out?

Anya nodded sagely. “I’ve got a burn too. Want to see?” She tugged the sleeve of her shirt down and showed him a palm sized scar on her shoulder. “The house caught fire. Daddy saved me!”

“I’m… I’m glad,” said David.

“At least someone’s not useless when it comes to a crisis,” said Karami. Great. Of course he had to show up.

“Come and have some food,” Mrs Lehnsherr said.

Anya grabbed David’s hand, making him flinch. “You can sit next to me. Are you really going to be my big brother?”

“I don’t… I…” He glanced up at the Lehnsherrs, aware he looked like a rabbit in the headlights. 

Both of them were looking at him with such _kindness_ in their eyes, it was almost painful. “I hope you don’t mind that we told her?” said Mr Lehnsherr. “It’s still entirely up to you, David - I was your named guardian but I wasn’t there for you, I completely understand if you don’t want anything to do with me, but—”

“You want me?” he blurted, staring between them.

“Well, of course we want you, my dear,” said Mrs Lehnsherr. She did that thing again where she hovered her hand above his shoulder, and this time he wished she’d touch him, even without asking. He wished he could lean into her palm and see if she was as warm and gentle as she looked. “If we’d known, we would have taken you the moment your parents…”

“I killed them,” he blurted.

“Fuck’s sake, Davey,” groaned Jack. “Not this again.”

“He’s right,” Karami shrugged. “He did.”

“No, you jackass, _you_ killed them. You actually _literally_ killed them,” said Cyndi. “Like, you were literally the terrorist guy, and now we’ve got to live with you because David’s got a weird brain.

“Leave him alone,” said Styx, curled up on the sofa with his hands between his knees.

“Why should we?” Jack said, throwing up his hands. “He’s going to ruin everything again because he can’t keep his mouth shut!”

“Shut up!! All of you, shut up!!”

David had his hands over his ears, trembling fingers digging into his hair, his head low over his knees. He was crying.

And now they shut up.

They’d send him away. They’d send him back, they’d send him _back there_ with the doctors and the sedation, all because he couldn’t pretend for just a couple of hours to be normal! Logan hadn’t even left yet, they might as well just put him back in the car. Would Logan be mad? Could he run away? Jack and Cyndi would be happy, maybe he’d just let them take over and—

“David?” said Mr Lehnsherr softly.

David looked up with a gasp. The room was empty save for the two of them. Mr Lehnsherr was crouched down in front of him, his eyes still soft and concerned. David wiped his face. “I’m so sorry,” he croaked.

“Come, sit at the table,” he said, holding out a hand for David to take. 

David put his hand in Mr Lehnsherr’s and stood, scrubbing the rest of his tears away on his sleeve. They just kept coming.

“The others have gone away to give you a bit of privacy, but we didn’t want to leave you alone.”

David sniffed and stared down at his hands. “I’m so sorry, Mr Lehnsherr.”

“It’s Erik - and why are you sorry?”

He gulped a breath, and another, shuddering with the effort of trying to hold back the sobs. “I’m… I’m crazy,” he said. Almost wailed. “I’m bad, and I hurt people, and I don’t want to… want to hurt your family. I… I killed them. It’s my fault, I killed all those people!”

“David… can I give you a hug?”

There was a weird noise coming from his throat, a keening, strangled sound, but he nodded. Erik leaned forward off his chair and wrapped his arms tight around David’s back. David cried and cried, a pressure valve of grief and fear. Erik rocked him - was rocking OK? He stroked his hair, and David thought maybe without this hug he might have splintered and drifted away on the air.

At last the storm passed. David’s face was buried in Erik’s neck, and he felt like a small child, completely cocooned in love. How was this even possible?

“I’m sorry,” he said. Croaked.

“You don’t need to apologise for feeling,” Erik said, his own voice sounding strangely stuffy as well. When he pulled back a little way to look at David, his eyes were red rimmed. He smiled and wiped David’s tears away, or some of them at least. “You know, I’ve read your file,” he said, almost apologetically. “Logan insisted, he said you needed a lot of care. That people haven’t… treated you well.”

David looked down. “I’m crazy,” he said.

“Yes, that’s what they told you, isn’t it?” he said, a frown forming. “They’re wrong, you know.”

David stared at him. He was obviously blind. “I hear voices in my head from bad people telling me to do stuff, some of which involves jumping out of cars and burning places. I think that definitely counts as crazy.”

“That counts as many things - dissociative identity disorder, auditory hallucinations, PTSD - but none of it is crazy. It’s just your incredible brain finding ways around some horrific situations.”

David blinked at him, completely lost for words.

Erik gave a little nervous smile. “Now… I know you’ve had a bad experience with them, but Logan’s suggested a brilliant psychotherapist who can do skype sessions for clients who don’t want to go near an institution again, which I assumed you wouldn’t?” David shuddered, and Erik gave a grim smile. “If you want to try to talk to her - any of you guys - then I’ll be more than happy to set that up.”

“Is he talking to us?” Jack said, standing up. He still had his arms crossed over his chest, but he was staring with his mouth open.

“Can’t be,” said Cyndi, but her eyes were fixed on Erik too.

“So… she wants to… what? Cure me?” David said.

Erik made a face. “I don’t know if that’s the word she’d use. She wants to hear from all of you and help you work together. She says…” he narrowed his eyes and thought carefully, as if trying to remember her exact words. “She says that alters are protective - they think they’re doing their best to keep you safe, but their methods are just outdated.” He grinned at David, a little proudly, a little shyly. David found himself smiling back.

“That’s bullshit,” said Karami, hunching his shoulders and looking away. “I don’t want to protect him. I want out.”

“You do want to protect him,” said Styx, curling up smaller and biting on his thumb. “You want to make him tough.”

“Well,” said Cyndi, tossing her hair back. “I think it’s a load of rubbish too.” But she was quiet after that, and stared into the distance.

“Do you think…” David paused, then rushed onwards. “Do you think you could… possibly stay? With me? While I talk to her?”

Erik smiled, a bright, delighted thing that crinkled the skin around his eyes and made David smile again. “If you want me there, I’m there,” he said. He put his hand on David’s shoulder and squeezed gently. “I’ll be here for you as long as you need me to be,” he said, and the words fell into him like a promise.

**Author's Note:**

> David's mindscape is basically mine, with the sofas and the arguing. What Erik said is true, your headmates are basically there to keep the system safe, unfortunately sometimes the techniques they've learned in an unsafe, abusive environment don't translate well to adult life.


End file.
